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Nintendo shares skyrocket after a surprise announcement by Apple

Shigeru Miyamoto stands next to the Super Mario character during an Apple media event in San Francisco. (Reuters/ Beck Diefenbach)

Shares of Nintendo (NTDOY) surged on Wednesday during the Apple (AAPL) product launch event. The catalyst was two big announcements.

First, the iconic game Super Mario Bros. will come to iOS in a new game called “Super Mario Run.” Mario will appear in the App Store by the end of this year.

Next, the hugely popular augmented-reality game Pokémon GO will debut on the Apple Watch.

The announcements came just after 1:00 pm ET when NTDOY was trading at around $30 per share. The gaming company’s stock got as high as $36.55. It was last trading up more than 24% at around $35 per share.

Nintendo shares surged immediately after Apple’s announcement.

Shares of Nintendo have surged more than 74% this year largely in part due to attention that came from Pokémon GO’s tremendous success. While the game isn’t directly responsible for a substantial amount of the company’s earnings, it nevertheless revealed some huge opportunities for the company.

To date, there have been around 500 million downloads of thePokémon GO app and users have clocked in more than 4.6 billion kilometers, Niantic CEO John Hanke said.

The new Pokémon GO on the Apple Watch will blend with user’s daily walk or run.

“Pokémon GO on Apple Watch will help you be the very best,” Hanke said.